Giada De Laurentiis

An e-mail excerpt to my Mom when she asked me how the book signing event went with the celebrity chef, Giada De Laurentiis today. I got a couple of pictures while she was being interviewed by a local paper. I was lucky enough to score a place in line directly opposite the window.

It was fun. The signing was 12:00 - 1:00. I left the house at 10:00
to go to Powells to buy the new book, then headed to Williams Sonoma. I
got to WS right at 11:00 thinking I'd be one of the first people. Boy was
I wrong. I was about 100 people back, and by the time the line started
moving at 12:00, there were at least 500-600 people behind me.

But,
around 11:30, directly opposite me, through glass in the store's main display
area, a reporter and photographer began arranging furniture to accommodate an
interview. Around 11:40, Giada arrived to much fanfare, and entered the
store. Within seconds she was with the reporter and photographer,
literally 6 feet from me, but through glass. People gasped at
her beauty. She really was stunning, and we all agreed the T.V.
does not do her justice. She was very tan, had her hair down, and, of
course, lots of makeup. The makeup was a bit darker than what she uses on T.V. She was wearing an interesting cardigan-type sweater with
roses and skulls on it, and her tight jeans were low-cut and had
silver crowns sewn on the back pockets. Black boots. During the
interview, she was VERY animated, just like she is on her show.

The interview finished up right at noon, and then she was ushered into the book
signing area, and the line started moving forward around
12:05.

When I first arrived on the line, Williams Sonoma workers
were coming down the line with sticky notes to put on the title page with the
names with which Giada was going to personalize the book. I asked if
she would sign the cover of the book, and I was told no. There was lots of
congenial chatter among the people in line, talking about Giada's Chefography,
recipes they had tried, and all the typical things you'd expect. 75% of
the line were women between 40-65. The lone guy in front of me was gay and
about 45. A few young, seemingly heterosexual guys like me, but few and
far between.

The line snaked through the store, to a waist-high
table, behind which Giada was sitting on a stool hamming it up with each
person. She spent about 30-45 seconds which everyone. I had
rehearsed a bit what I was going to say, so I stepped right up with a big smile,
leaned in, and said, "Welcome to Portland, Giada. It's a real pleasure to
meet you in person." She said, "Thank you, Rob [having glanced at the
dedication sticky note], it's a beautiful city." I said, "You are
really inspirational." She said, "Do you do the cooking for your
family?" I said, "In the last year I've begun really enjoying it, and with
my new job, I have more time to experiment. Your recipes are fun to
make." "Good for you! Have fun with all recipes in the new
book!" "Thanks Giada!"

To:
Rob
XO
Giada

And, she signed her first book that you gave me
for Christmas, XO Giada.

It was fun and exciting.